US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken considered the dialogue between Baku and Yerevan the only way to resolve frictions in the Transcaucasus. He stated this on April 29 during a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Blinken promised support from the United States of America and also pointed to the importance of negotiations.
“The Secretary of State stressed that direct dialogue and diplomacy are the only path to lasting peace in the South Caucasus,” the State Department said in a statement.
The press service of the Armenian government also specified that Pashinyan and Blinken discussed the “military-political and humanitarian situation in the region.” In addition, the meeting of the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington was discussed.
Earlier, on April 26, the Kremlin press service reported on telephone conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. It was noted that they discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, focusing on the tasks of ensuring stability and security in the region.
On April 23, as a result of unilateral and uncoordinated actions, the Azerbaijani side blocked traffic along the Lachin corridor. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the command of Russian peacekeepers is negotiating with Azerbaijan because of the situation with the checkpoint.
Prior to that, on April 19, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow considers the trilateral agreements with Baku and Yerevan on Karabakh to be uncontested. According to him, the Russian Federation will welcome any steps of the parties that can lead to detente between the states.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated against the backdrop of contesting the ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh, which in 1988 announced its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR. During the military conflict of 1992-1994, Baku lost control over Karabakh.
In September 2020, Baku took control of a number of settlements during military operations. In November of the same year, Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the participation of the Russian Federation, signed an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the fall of 2022, the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border worsened. Yerevan and Baku accused each other of the escalation, and also reported deaths on each side.
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